Spin Cycle

Facing both an immediate crisis in a new fixation on Rev. Wright and race, as well as a broader sense of erosion in his campaign, Obama at a big press conference in North Carolina hits back harder on Wright:

"The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church. They certainly don't portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Rev. Wright thinks that that's political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn't know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well I might not know him as well as I thought, either."

In the blogosphere, he's getting headlines like "Obama Cuts Wright Loose, and "Obama Denounces Wright," and "Obama Repudiates Wright."

That's what he needs for TV tonight and headlines tomorrow. But then, he will need to explain what Wright said yesterday that was different than he had ever said before.

More here:

"I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS; when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century; when he equates the U.S. wartime efforts with terrorism – then there are no excuses.

"They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced, and that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today. It is antithetical to my campaign. It is antithetical to what I’m about. It is not what I think America stands for."